Editorial: Even when we're furious, death penalty no answer

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Suddenly, the death penalty is back in the news.

Georgia this week executed a convicted murderer as she sang “Amazing Grace.” Oklahoma moved within hours of executing another convicted murderer before holding up. Pope Francis weighed in: Please give it up, America.

And here in Illinois, a couple of legislators want to bring the death penalty back.

We’re with the pope on this one. End capital punishment. End it everywhere.

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We say this knowing our nation is feeling especially fed up and angry today, reeling after the horrendous mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in rural Oregon. Good and decent people want to strike back, and we get that. So do we.

But violence begets violence even when sanctioned by the state. Capital punishment feeds a culture of violence. There is not a credible study anywhere that says it reduces crime rates. On the contrary, the least violent free societies are those that long ago banished the death penalty. The United States should join them.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer got it right in June when he said the death penalty is seriously unreliable; it is handed down arbitrarily and hampered by long delays. A long parade of exonerations from death row is proof capital punishment just doesn’t work.

In Oklahoma, Gov. Mary Fallin on Wednesday issued a 37-day stay of his execution for Richard Glossip, who was convicted on doubtful evidence. The case against Glossip was largely based on the testimony of an alleged accomplice who was trying to avoid the death penalty himself. But the stay of his execution ignores his possible wrongful conviction; rather, the sole concern is whether the state can properly manage the drugs it uses for lethal injections.

That should give nobody confidence in a state’s ability to carry out the death penalty responsibly.

In Illinois, state Reps. Bill Mitchell (R-Forsyth) and John Cabello (R-Machesney Park) believe it’s time to bring back a narrower death penalty just for cop killers, child murderers and others who are among “the worst of the worst” in cases where the evidence is solid.

Unfortunately, history shows once you have capital punishment, politicians line up in every election cycle to add crimes to the death-penalty-eligible list. And prosecutors will always call their evidence ironclad, even when it doesn’t look that way to others.

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have abolished the death penalty and Pennsylvania has halted executions. States that still have the death penalty are using it less. Illinois should stick with the smart crowd.

Just last week, Justice Antonin Scalia said he “wouldn’t be surprised” to see the Supreme Court abolish capital punishment.

Here’s hoping Scalia is on to something.

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